Horses' hooves are hard boney masses that become sharp along the bottom edge from constant treading. The normal gait of a horse does not generally allow contact between the hoof and one or more of the horses' legs. However, during extraordinary movements or actions, such as hard or sharp turns in a "barrel" race, or dance steps or calf roping, all actions generally encountered in horse shows, rodeos and the like, there is such a propensity for the horse to kick itself that special safety precautions must be taken.
The coronet is the lowest part of the pastern of a horse; the pastern being the short boney part of the foot above the hoof and below the fetlock just below the shank or lower part of the leg. The rear of the coronet contains ligaments and tendons as well as arteries, veins and nerve endings, and is covered and protected only by skin and hair, as opposed to other parts of the horse that are additionally protected by bone and muscle tissue. The coronet is very susceptible to injury from a blow from the hoof of the opposite leg of the horse during these rather violent, non-standard movements such as in certain show events. It is therefore important to protect the coronet, especially the coronet of the front legs where most of the side-to-side movements originate. Protective coronet boots have been thus developed to be worn by the horse during show events.
The coronet boot of the prior art is a bell-shaped molded rubber skirt called a "bell-boot" containing an upper edge, for fitting around the pastern, the skirt extending therefrom sharply bulging outward and then vertically downward to a bottom edge for a loose fit around the outside bottom edge of the hoof, and opposed vertical edges for abutment, to enclose the coronet and whole hoof by the use of external straps, ties and the like. This style of boot has been found to last a very short time, as little as one day of a horse show, and becomes tattered and destroyed by the constant blows from the horses' hooves. Part of the problem appears to stem from the high frictional rubber surface of the boot, any grazing by another hoof causes the boot to deform excessively and stretch the skirt. Another problem appears to come from the actual bell shape itself; an annular air space is created around the upper part of the hoof between the hoof surface and the bell-shaped skirt thus allowing an incoming blow from a hoof to "grab" the rubber skirt causing a fold in the rubber that seems to hold or attach itself to the striking hoof and put more stretch on the skirt as the striking hoof goes by. Two other problems occasion the prior art coronet boot; one is that the molded bell shape of the skirt will not permit the boot to lay flat thus packaging, storing and shipping are done with boxes, a significant cost item. The other problem is that the boots only come in one color, black, and are not amenable to color coordination with today's highly decorative and colorful riding outfits and tack.